h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, hmmm, I suppose I should be thinking about the next conversation.

I was just thinking about that Lil. We got used to the long convo with our last discussion.

Hypatia, we make pakora on rugby days, when Scotland invariably gets thrashed. The recipe calls for gram flour, but I use a halfnhalf mix of plain and self raising flour instead. As long as your mixture isn't too wet once you've added the water, they are light and gorgeous.
Oil temp is always a pain to judge, too hot and they burn before cooking through, too cool! and they become oily.
Like Lil, wholemeal flour for chapatis is great...

Thanks for the tip Eatsmice. I don't know why a person couldn't use wheat flour. Especially since I'm not sure if I'd like the chickpea flour anyway. I don't remember ever tasting it. And to tell the truth, chickpeas/garbanzos have never been a favorite of mine. The texture is weird. I can buy graham frour. Is that the same as gram flour? Anyway, the pakoras sound really good. I've only made corn fritters and apple fritters.

Not sure how gram flour is produced, will hunt out my recipe book

Lil, yep. Oh, and another thing. I couldn't figure out why my daughter didn't understand jump-rope...turns out that her school has banned jump-ropes because they're hazardous.

Took the gender test and discovered that I am a woman. Which makes my beard and chest hair rather frightening.

*appears at the door to the kitchen, frowning*

Your scullery maid took off with that other robot from downstairs and she ain't coming back for three weeks. I'm doing the cooking for the meanwhile.

That means that this here *points at the threshold* is the line of death. Cross it and you die. It's MY kitchen now. You want something, you come to the butler's hatch and ask. You hear?

*turns back into the kitchen and closes the door behind her, muttering, a muttering which carries clearly through the hatch* Butlers! Alcoholic beverages! Food at all hours! It ain't right.

No cinnamon buns for 3 weeks? No snacks in the middle of the night?


*frowns at the farmer's wife then carries a tea pot, coffee pot, and a large selection of goodies to the library and slams the door*

[{Courtesy}]

[Sol]

MR, sorry for the late reply!

Didn't move closer to school. Moved closer to the Getty, actually. Much nicer neighborhood, cheaper rent, landlord who won't try to extort me, and maintenance staff who doesn't threaten to beat me up. All in all, a very good move.

Definitely give me a call if you'd like company at the getty! just be forewarned that I've heard that you need to make a reservation to park.

is there a icon yet????

apparently not. Drat.

[BC]

*queues at the hatch for breakfast*

*frowns at the closed kitchen door*

*mutters to herself* Well, if she thinks that'll keep me out of the kitchen whenever I feel like a from the self-refillable champagne bottle *I* supplied, she'll have a lesson coming up any day!

*sulks* The test said I'm a man because '...deep down, your gender affects everything about you, from your favorite number to your views on Canada'. So? Hah! Pah! Bah! I didn't even reply to the stupid Canada question, so there!

[Ripley] *attempts to frown at the closed kitchen door too*

It's a pity my favourite Chinese restaurant isn't open for breakfast, The Regent, up the A3.

*joins Amy in the queue*

All the Farmer's Wives I have met (well only 2 actually) did wonderful breakfasts.

The Ming dynasty seems to have influenced the names of several Chinese restaurants in Sweden - Ming Palace, Ming Garden and so on...

About the gravlax recipe: I must admit I've never made my own but the Swedish recipes I've found sound pretty much like the ones I've heard my friends describe. There are some major differences to the American one though:

No need to remove the salmon skin until after the 'graving' - place one piece with skin side down. If you want to use alcohol (optional), then this is the time to pour it over the salmon. Cover the meat side with the sugar, salt, 2-3 teaspoons of white pepper and generous amounts of finely chopped dill. Place the other piece of salmon on top with skin side up. Usually one end is thinner than the other, so place the thinner end of one piece against the thicker end of the other piece.

Put it all into a plastic bag (or wrap up in plastic foil) and put into refrigator for at least 24 hours and preferrably no more than 48 hours (after that the saltiness increases - some prefer their gravlax salty though, so they leave it in the fridge for a little longer). Turn the package over a couple of times while in the fridge to make the spices spread evenly.

Scrape off the spices and cut into thin filées, leave off skin

Sounds so simple that I really ought to try it myself!

Ben, about your poem: to me, the last 3 lines of it seem to not quite belong to the previous lines - I get one impression first, and then the ending seems so different that it leaves me hesitating about what you really mean - but that's just me

Graving? To grave? Now there's a verb to conjure with.

*looks through the hatch and wonders what breakfast will be and whether there's any chance it will arrive before lunch time*

Hmmmm... considering that 'gravlax' is a foreign word in the English language (not sure if it's from the Swedish, Norwegian or Norse language) maybe there ought to be an imported verb as well, meaning 'to make gravlax'?